114 MONTAGNE ON 



action as fatal as in our times, and since many other moulds, as 

 Tricothecium roseum, Polyactis vulgaris, &c., grow upon grapes 

 when approaching decomposition, it is still very doubtful whether 

 these authors were acquainted with the Oidium. 



Amongst the authors more nearly approaching our times many 

 passages of Rannazzini (Constitutiones Epidemicte Mutinenses, 

 p. 115. 1 690) have been quoted, which refer rather to Uredines or 

 Cladosporium herbarum. The most striking is as follows : " Sicut 

 enim anno huic praecedenti hsec lues (rubigo) rubro colore fruges 

 infecerat, ita hoc anno, non cretd sed carhone notando easdem 

 magna atredine resperserat." This has clearly nothing to do with 

 our Oidium, which is white. 



We find moreover in a modern Botanist, who has long dwelt 

 in the United States of America, and who has described its 

 myeological productions, the indication of an Erysiphe, which he 

 has called E. necator. This Erysiphe, which attacks the grapes of 

 some cultivated varieties of the Vitis Labrusca and destroys them, 

 (ubi omnino evoluta hsec species destruit uvas) may possibly be 

 tbe same fungus as that which now attacks our vines, or one very 

 nearly allied. Another species, which he calls Erysiphe Mors 

 Uva3, because it attacks exclusively the fruit of the Gooseberry, 

 constitutes a grievous malady, sometimes causing the fruit to 

 perish for many successive years. Schweinitz speaks of it as 

 follows : — " Species nostra . . .tam vulgatissima in Pennsylvania. . . 

 tam lethalem morbum his (uvis Grossularife) infert ut hortulani 

 vix valeant nisi tempore faustissimo hos fructus deliciosos educare 

 apud nos. Antequam maturitatem nempe in illis nascens tomento 

 aut hyphasmate suo ita hos circum circa investit atque con- 

 stringit ut enecantur nee possunt comedi. Quibusdam equidem 

 pluribus annis vix singulam invenies illaesam ab hoc hoste." I 

 the more willingly transcribe this passage because it seems 

 calculated to explain certain facts which are daily occurring under 

 our eyes. 



I shall not dwell at length on the histoiy of the appearance of 

 the vine mildew, or, if you will, its reappearance amongst us. Every 

 one knows that it was first observed at Margate in the stoves, and 

 according to some in the open air, by a gardener named Tucker, 

 a name at present of such mournful celebrity, and described by 

 my friend the Rev. M. J. Berkeley in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 Nov. 17. 1847. Its manner of production is difficult to explain, 

 though it is easy to relate how from thence it proceeded to infest 

 in its unceasing course all the vines of Europe. It is enough in 



